ArcelorMittal announced on March 17 the creation of a new brand covering its low and zero-carbon steel making activities as part of a strategy to slash pollution by 2050.
The brand will also encompass the roll out of three new products and services. These are called XCarb green steel certificates, XCarb recycled and renewably produced and the XCarb innovation fund, the world's largest steel producer said in a statement.
Aditya Mittal, CEO, ArcelorMittal, said the creation of the brand: "Aims to demonstrate to stakeholders the diverse range of initiatives we are undertaking in pursuit of our 2050 net zero goal while also providing our customers with solutions which help them address their own carbon reduction targets, demonstrating the important role steel has to play in a future, circular economy."
ArcelorMittal Europe has previously estimated the cost of carbon-neutralizing its own footprint by 2050 at between Eur15 billion-25 billion ($18 billion-30 billion) for its Smart Carbon production route initially using carbon capture and storage. Alternatively, the price climbs to Eur30 billion-40 billion using hydrogen in a direct reduced iron-electric arc furnaces.
New certificates
The steelmaker also announced it will offer customers XCarb green steel certificates to help reduce their carbon footprint. Buyers will be able to acquire certificates attached to their physical orders so they can report reductions in Scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 emissions can be defined as indirect pollution in a company's value chain.
The company has already started to sell green steel products and the certification will be rolled out later in March. The CO2 savings are aggregated, independently assured, and then converted into XCarb green steel certificates using a methodology that represents the average CO2 intensity of integrated steelmaking in Europe, ArcelorMittal said.
The company anticipates it will have 600,000 tonnes of equivalent green steel available to market by the end of 2022, with the majority of this output in Europe.
Products and funds
ArcelorMittal has also rolled out XCarb recycled and renewably produced products covering both long and flat steel. These products will use "scrap" as a raw material that is recycled material and produced using renewable electricity.
The metal will have a carbon footprint of approximately 300kg of CO2 per tonne of finished steel and the electricity used will be independently verified with a Guarantee of Origin.
Finally, ArcelorMittal said it will invest $100 million annually in companies developing technologies that accelerate the steel industry's transition to carbon neutral production through its XCarb innovation fund.
